Garment hanger



INVENTOR JOHN V. ROWAN GARMENT HANGER Filed Oct, 6' 1938 Patented Aug. l5, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE l i P 2.169,53: v Y

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the hanger. One of the most important features lo `of my hanger is that when the trousers are removed therefrom, absolutely` no kmark is left to mar the trim appearance of the trousers where they have been in engagement with the hanger. Another feature of my hanger is its' resiliency,

l which makes it adjustable to accommodate legs of trousers of varying widths with the minimum amount of exertion. Another advantage is that my hanger is formed of inexpensive material and is of extremely simple construction, which brings the cost of manufacture down to the minimum.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating my hanger. l

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my hanger, partly broken away, showing the same in engagement with the bottom portions of the legs of a pair of trousers.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detail view taken on the l'ine 3 3, Fig. 2, showing one end of my hanger in engagement with the trousers.

My hanger comprises arm portions and a hook portion which are constructed of a resilient, relatively heavy wire. 'I'he main portion of my hanger is formed of a containuous piece of wire, which is bent at its approximate center to form a loop I. The wire extending from both sides of the loop I is then bent downwardly to form vertical portions 2 of such length as to beconveniently gripped by the hand of the user of the device, and at the points 3 (Figs. 1 and 2) the wirel is bent at right angles, thus forming the. horizontal arm portions 4 of my hanger. The arm portions 4 are then cut of! at their ends so that their combined length added to the width of the space between the points 3 will be approximately the same as the width of the average trouser legs. It will be seen that the resiliency provided by the loop I and the play permitted by the space between the points 3 will permit the use r of the device to insert iteasily and quickly into the trouser legs of somewhat narrow dimension at their bottom portions by merely pressing the portions 2 toward each other, which can easily be done with one hand, and also to forcethe 'portions 2 apart when the hanger is to be used in connection with rather wide trousers.

ICI.' 223-95) At the outer ends of the arm portions 4Lthere are secured inverted U-shaped gripping members which contact the inner side of the bottom lpox'- tions of the trouser legs, said gripping members consisting each of a single piece of some light- 5 weight metal which is bent to form three walls i, 6, and The undersides of the walls 5 are secured, preferably by spot welding, to the upper sides of the arm portions 4 at the extreme outer ends of said arm portions, as shown at 8 in Fig. 1, l0 with the walls 8 and 'I depending vertically therefrom. 'I'he walls 8 and 1, at their outer edges where they engage the inner sides of the trousers at the points where said trousers are creased, are provided with teeth 9. The teeth 9, while not 1I!l so sharply pointed as to injure the fabric of the trousers, will yet hold the trousers securely enough to prevent their sliding oi! the hanger. For .greater ease of insertion of the hanger into the trouser legs, and also to prevent their sliding 20 oi the hanger, the points of the teeth are cut to form acute angles, rather than right angles, with the shorter side of each tooth positioned above the longer side thereof. as illustrated most clearly at the left-hand side of Fig. 1. The lower ends 25 of the walls 6 and 1 arerounded so as to eliminate any possibility of their catching on the fabric of the trousers. K

A hook member I0, formed of the same sort of wire as the main portion of the hanger, is pro- 30 vided to permit the hanger to be suspended from the ordinary clothes pole found in the average clothes closet, or from a clothes hook, or the like. The lower end of the vertical portion II of the hookrmember II)` is secured by spot welding to 35 the lower portion of the loop I at the point designated by the reference character I2. The advantage of securing the hook member III in this manner, that is, at the lowermost point of the loop, is that it becomes necessary .to spot weld 4@ through only a single thickness of the wire and at a point where the resiliency of the wire forming the loop is in no way interfered with, as would be thecase. if the hook member were welded Ato the 'upper'. double-wire portion of the loop. This 45 permits the loop to be formed before the welding operation takes place. In vorderl to weld through only one thickness of the wire at the top of the loop, it would be necessary to weld it before the loop is formed.

When it is desired to put my hanger to use,- for instance, to suspend therefrom a pair oi'l trousers, which I will designate by the reference character T in the drawing, if the trouser legs are somewhat narrow the user of the device g5 grasps the portions 2 in the hand and presses them together until the arm portions 4 of the hanger can belnserted into the trouser legs. 'lhe wall portions 0 of the gripping members are inserted into one of the trouser legs and the wall portions i of said gripping members inserted into the other trouser leg, leases his grip on the portions 2, which, duev to the resiliency of the wire of whichthe hanger is constructed, permits the arm portions I to springrapart until the teeth 8 engage lthe Ainner sides of the trouser legs at lthe location where trouser legs are usually creased. This is most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. 0n the other hand, should the trouser legs be rather wide, the portions '2 are forced apart until the arm lportions are slightly wider than the trouser leg. 'I'he portions 2 are then grasped and gently pressed toward each other until the arms 4 can be easily inserted into the trouser legs, after which the grasp is released and, on account of the resiliency of the wire, the arm portions Vl will spring apart until the teeth 9 engage the inside of the trouser legs.l This operation can be quickly and easily performed, due to the fact that the wire forming the hanger has suillcient resiliency to permit the portions 2 to be forced apart without injury to the hanger, and also to be bent back to their normal positions when it is desired to remove the wide trouser legs therefrom. When the arms I have been adjusted to fit snugly withinsthe trouser legs, the teeth 9 will frictionally engage the fabric of the trousers and eiTectivelyprevent them from sliding oil! the hanger, at the same time helping to maintain the 'creases in the trouser legs which is essential to their trim appearance. A

When the trousers are to be removed from the hanger, it is necessary only to grasp the hanger at the portions 2 and press said portions toward each other, which will disengage the teeth 9 from the fabric of the trouser legs and permit the hanger to be easily withdrawn therefrom. While I have described my hanger particularly with reference to its use in hanging trousers, it is to be understood that it may be used for the purpose of hanging other garments, such as skirts, and the like.

I claim: 1. A garment hanger comprising a main bod portion having opposed portions movable" toward and from each other, a loop midway between said opposed portions and formed integral therewith, a hook member ilxedly secured to said loop at the lower portion thereof, garment-engaging elements at the outer ends of said "opposed porand then the user retions,- said main body portion being capable of being retracted to permit said garment-engaging elements to be'introduced into the legs of a pair oi' trousers. said main body portion being possessed oi resiliency to permit said garment-engaging elements vto be moved away from each other and into engaging relation with the trouser legs, and said garment-engaging elements being provided with teeth at the edges where they engage the trouser legs. A

2. A garment hanger comprising-a main body portion having opposed portions movable toward and away from each other, a loop midway between said opposed portions. and formed integral 'e therewith, a hook member ilxedly secured to the lowermost point of said loop, garment-engaging elements at the outer ends of said opposed portions, said main body portion being capable of being retracted to permit said garment-engaging elements to be introduced into the legs of a pair of trousers, said Amain body portion being pos sessed of resiliency to permit said garment-engaging elements to be moved away from each other and into engaging relation with the trouser legs, and said garment-engaging elements being provided with teeth at the edges where they engage the trouser-legs, said teeth having a horizontal plane at their upper sides and an inclined plane at their lower sides to facilitate the ready engagement of said teeth with the garment without injury to said garment.

3. A garment hanger comprising a main body portion having opposed portions movable toward and away from each other, a loop having more than a single convolution of wire midway be- ,tween said opposed portions and formed integral therewith, a hook member spot welded to said loop, after said loop has been formed, at a point where said loop has but a single thickness of wire, garment-engaging elements at the outer ends of said opposed portions, said main body portion being capable of being retracted to permit said garment-engaging elements to be introduced into the legs of a pair of trousers, said main body portion being possessed of resiliency to permit said garment-engaging elements to be moved away from each other and into engaging relation with the trouser legs, and said garmentengaging elements being provided with teeth at the edges where they engage the trouser legs. said teeth being formed with acute angles at their points and the shorter side of each tooth being positioned aboveits longer side to facilitate the ready engagement of said teeth with the. garment without injury to said garment.

JOHN V. ROWAN. 

